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tv   Morning Joe  MSNBC  October 2, 2012 3:00am-6:00am PDT

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young man out of vanderbilt university? almost did nothing wrong last night. tower, how about one more. >> and it continues. david on twitter. my wife said burberry bag or chuck todd button for christmas. up way too button for christmas. up way too early shopping for a bag. >> i think we have some here in storage, tower. we've got to get rid of them. let's hand them out as christmas gifts. save yourself a few bucks. "morning joe" starts right now. . ♪ here's the great news for republicans, we have a candidate who is going to do extraordinarily well on wednesday night. >> oh [ bleep ] we got a runner, we got a runner! what are you doing, christie? apparently only new jersey governor chris christie did not get the memo that his party's nominee sucks at this. >> wednesday night's the restart of this campaign and i think you're going to see the numbers move in the other direction. this whole race is going to be turned upside down come thursday morning. >> what are you doing, christie?
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for god sakes, if romney fails, he's going to lose the general election creating chaos in the republican party and that's going to leave open 2016 -- oh. the jersey is strong in this one. >> welcome to "morning joe," it's top of the hour and howard dean's already inciting problems here. it's tuesday, october 2nd. with us onset we have msnbc mike barnicle. howard dean, and former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner, stranger. >> long time, no see. >> you're always here. >> you're never here. >> we're globe trotting, what can i say? hi, willie. >> what was your initial reaction to the elizabeth warren/scott brown debate. >> scott brown fell into the
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trap that sometimes male politicians fall into when they debate women. he looked overbearing and angry. and you particularly can't do that when you're debating a woman candidate. i thought he was in a lot of trouble as a result of this. he's behind anyway, but now he looks mad, angry, and i think that's a -- >> okay. well, that race is fascinating. the debate was last night and we have fascinating clips of that. and also the look at preparations of the presidential debates a day away. but first, we'll start with afghanistan. nato's secretary general says there's a possibility that western forces could be withdrawn from afghanistan more quickly than previously planned. he suggested the deadly spike of insider attacks has hit the morale of former troops serving in the war zone. and today's front page of the "new york times" claims the u.s. is abandoning its hopes for a peace deal with the taliban. the "times" reports american officials are essentially giving up on what was once a critical component of their strategy in
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afghanistan. they're opting for a far less ambitious plan that would have the afghans work out a deal among themselves once u.s. combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014. richard engel has been covering the conflict for nearly 11 years and filed this report from the afghan capital. >> reporter: this woman is about to die. executed for adultery. the man she was with got off scot-free, the taliban recently filmed this video of their justice as a warning and to say they're making a comeback. some 30 miles away in the village, we saw few signs of what the u.s. would consider progress in afghanistan and no evidence that the american plan to hand over to a credible, stable afghan government will work. these village elders tell me once u.s. troops leave, a civil war will begin and u.s.-trained afghan forces will not be able to stop it.
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>> are you preparing for this fight? are you already stockpiling weapons and ammunition and getting yourself ready? yes, we are, we will definitely fight, he says. and what about the afghan government? it's meaningless here, they say. you think it's possible that the taliban will try and come back. yes, they will, he says. it makes a decade's work of american battles seem futile. it wasn't always like this. >> the united states military has begun strikes. >> at first, the war had momentum. and a clear purpose. al qaeda with bases in afghanistan attack the united states on 9/11. just three months later, the u.s. drove the taliban from power, al qaeda and osama bin laden were on the run. it was done with a few hundred cia officers, special forces, and air power. a quick victory.
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but not decisive. >> that was nbc's richard engel reporting. and he goes on to report that they have made gains, mike barnicle, the life expectancy has extended because of health care, girls are getting educated. but when you look at that piece, you realize there's no way in, no way to stay in and not a good way of getting out, either. >> this is a very depressing story. on october 7th, united states begins its 12th year of war in afghanistan. 12 years. for those of you at home this morning getting the kids ready for school or getting ready for your workday, think of the war in afghanistan this way. if a 20-year-old marine is killed by the afghans, our supposed allies, that marine was 8 years of age when this war began. his first year in little league and dies in afghanistan, a country that we are not going to change. a country that is not our country. a country that we ought to leave right away. >> yeah.
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it's a big problem. i was very supportive of both president bush and president obama in afghanistan, mainly because of the hope we can turn around what happens to women. we have the same problem we had in vietnam. when you're working with a corrupt government, people can't work to save themselves, you can't save them no matter what. we need to get out. >> the fight against al qaeda continues not only in afghanistan, but increasingly in north africa. the "washington post" is reporting the white house has held secret meetings to examine the terror group in the region. the al qaeda affiliate there is believed to have gained a large amount of weapons after the revolution in libya. and according to "the post," the white house meetings predate the attacks on the u.s. compound in libya and have included possible strikes against targets in north africa. i think it'll be interesting to hear how these issues are played out in one of the debates, which i believe is focused on foreign policy. i just want the candidates to be asked about this. >> there's also, mika, a front page in the "new york times"
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that everybody ought to read saying u.s. abandoning hopes for taliban peace deal. just to go back to afghanistan. it says one of the expectations was that we could batter the taliban coming to the table to work out some kind of a deal. well, we all could've handed our government history books that would indicate over history that wasn't going to happen. so the idea that's a surprise that the taliban isn't going to suddenly sit down with us and work out a government and work alongside us should not come as a surprise to people, but apparently it is. now we walk away from that possibility. >> obviously afghanistan has a long history with the british, the soviets, everybody. and there's a famous saying, you can't want democracy for more than they want it for themselves. so we are not going to change the whole culture of afghanistan. it's not why we went there. we went to deal with al qaeda and terrorism and it became a nation-building exercise and that's not going to work. >> i think the biggest problem in afghanistan is pakistan. if we had a reliable ally, it would change. but pakistan has made this much
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worse by supporting the taliban, and terrorist networks while we're giving them money. and when this all ends and we leave afghanistan which will be sooner rather than later, the question is what will we do about this mess in pakistan? this failed state which is a huge state with nuclear weapons? and it's an enormous problem and it's going to be a huge problem for us in the future. >> i don't know what we're realistically going to do about pakistan. it's a huge country with nuclear weapons and you tell me what we're going to do with pakistan. >> well, we'll have to figure out a way to contain them. they're causing trouble all over the region. >> all right. moving to politics now. we're going to get to that debate last night that was spirited and at times a tad bit testy. scott brown met democratic challenger elizabeth warren at the university of massachusetts. it was the second of four scheduled debates as a new poll from the "boston globe" shows 18% of massachusetts voters still undecided. right out of the gate, moderator
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david gregory asked about the controversy surrounding elizabeth warren's claim of native-american heritage. >> i have never used the information to get any advantage. not to apply to college, not to apply to law school, and not to get hired for any job. i was listed in a directory as -- i listed myself as native-american. i was listed there, it's part of who i am. >> do you consider yourself a minority? >> i consider myself as having a native american background. that's what i said, that's what i am. >> no one's questioning what her parents told her when she was younger all the way through that time frame. but when she was asked by the "boston herald," why is harvard touting her as a woman of color, native american, she said she didn't know. and after five weeks of misleading the papers she said i self-reported and she's never answered why she, in fact, did that. >> okay. one notable line came when
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senator brown was interrupted while trying to explain why he voted against democratic-backed bills. >> she's obviously misat a timing the facts. these were rejection by both democrats and republicans, professor. it wasn't -- if you're going to comment on my record, i would at least have you refer to -- excuse me -- >> is this going to be -- >> go ahead. >> i'm not a student in your classroom, please let me respond, okay. thank you. >> okay. let's just stop there for a second. because at the top of the show in our little sort of teaser item, you -- i think you nailed it. i think he fell into a trap. but there are dynamics you have to be extremely wary of. >> you have to be very careful not to appear to be bullying or condescending, and i think he certainly looked condescending, whether he looked bullying or not, i don't know. >> he's a pretty mild-mannered
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nice guy. >> the trouble is, he doesn't look like that in this clip. he looks like a guy who has had it. this is a fascinating race. i think this is a fascinating race. he's clearly making a place for the angry white working class people and i don't know. what do you think? >> well, i don't think he's doing that. the biggest thing he has going for him in a heavily democratic state is the perception that he's a nice guy. that he's the nicer person of the two candidates. that shows up in all of the polls, shows up when you see them. encounter them on the street. what he does in the debates counters that. that's a dangerous sign for him. his biggest problem is going to be in massachusetts, the president of the united states is going to crush the former governor of massachusetts. and that numbers hill for scott brown to climb is a tremendous
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task. i'm surprised it's been as close as it has been this long. her biggest strength, one of her biggest strengths is people in massachusetts, their fear of a republican-controlled senate. what he's got going for him is people's instinct it's nice to have a balance. republicans and democrats and that the guy is bipartisan. >> why is this -- what's the big deal about her native-american heritage? >> i think that's a media obsession more than it is -- >> he's spending all his time going after her. >> i agree with you. i agree with you. >> because he knows he's behind and he's got to do something. and there's a question as to whether she put it on a form or didn't put it on a form, so he's trying to make something of it. it's not the first time someone has tried to do something like that. i think one of the other issues is there, though, he's trying to portray himself as a centrist because of the politics of massachusetts and talking about his bipartisan cooperation. but then last night he was asked who his favorite supreme court justice was and he said scalia
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and quickly pivoted. but that's not going to play that well in massachusetts. and he's obviously trying to portray her as an elite, harvard, very left wing kind of academic. as you said, i think it's looking very tough for him. >> wasn't elizabeth warren fantastic, steve rattner? >> she's a lovely person. >> you agree with me, right? >> that she's a fantastic person? >> yes, and a fantastic candidate. >> i think she's a fantastic candidate, an amazing woman, i think she's formidable and i disagree with her on about 75% of her views at least on how the economy and the financial industry should -- >> which is exactly why, of course, i like her. >> exactly, i like her a lot too. i want to be clear about that. >> the irony here is if you listen to her, draw her out, she is far to the left of where most voters are in that state. it's sort of interesting -- >> on what issue? i think she's to the left of howard dean. >> come on now. >> no, seriously, what is she?
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i think people have had it up to here with wall street and with consumer protection and those are her strong issues. so where is she -- >> she's fine on consumer protection, but she would break up the banks -- >> so would i. >> okay. fine. >> they're too big to fail. they're not capitalist institutions anymore. they're too big to fail. >> we can all go over to cnbc and have this debate. i'm not sure that the average massachusetts voter would want to rally restructure the financial system the extent she would. and i don't think she's going to get a lot of votes there. >> wasn't elizabeth warren fantastic? >> she was good. he had that one moment where he didn't look his best when he said i'm not in one of your classrooms. she's an outsider, she's harvard, not -- >> that was clearly a line supplied to him. that came out of the romney zinger camp. >> how does that play in boston? that broader concept she's not really one of us. if scott brown looks and winks at the camera, she's a nice
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lady, very smart, but she's not one of us. that's what he's saying essentially. >> in parts of boston, it's going to play very well, in parts of cambridge, not going to play well at all. again, it gets to the numbers game. he has two counties in boston heavily tilted against him. suffolk county, and the numbers are so horrendously stacked against any republican that he's got -- >> you're basically saying there's going to be a huge presidential turnout in those two counties and that's what's going to swamp? >> yeah. >> that's interesting. i thought that was a weird poll, 43%, 38%, that many people undecided in a race like that. >> that's his hope right now. >> let's show a little bit of the debate last night. elizabeth warren ran into a little bit of trouble with a question about who from the other party she would work with if elected to the senate. >> can you name some republicans in the senate today that you are
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able to work with on big issues, substantive issues that the country faces? >> richard lugar would be one that comes to mind. >> he's not going to be there. >> he's not going to be there. who else could you name, senator? >> that is a problem. let me do -- >> let me ask the question, though. are there any republicans who are actually going to be in the senate that you feel you could work with substantively and compromise with. >> look, it depends on what the subject matter is. >> this is precisely the point, right? this is the point that she isn't going to work with the other party. she's out there on the edge, and voters are going to have to take that into account when they decide how badly they want a democratic senator. >> okay. but counter to that, she -- >> i don't think -- >> she actually built something that is really all about protecting the middle class, protecting the american people from voracious appetites of banks and greedy wall streeters. she has done things that shows she's not there out on the edge,
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she's fighting for people. i agree, it's going to be tough for her to get in there and learn how to do it. look at scott brown. >> there's a lot of people out there, democrats are not the only ones including tea party people who are sick of politicians who go -- who work with the right wing. there are a lot of people who say why don't you stand up for what you believe in? nobody's going to argue that elizabeth warren's not going to stand up for what she believes in. >> if everybody goes down there and takes their absolute position and says this is where i am and this is where i'm staying -- >> i don't think she'll do that. but she'll stand up for what she cares about which is consumer protection and that matters a lot. >> and i agree, what she did with the consumer protection bureau was a great thing. i will absolutely grant her that. but i think a lot of her other views on how we should manage our financial system are too extreme. >> senator brown drew some jeers from the crowd when asked to name his favorite supreme court justice. >> i think justice scalia is a very good judge, justice
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kennedy. justice kennedy is obviously very good, and justice roberts, justice sotomayor, i think they're very qualified people there. >> scalia and sotomayor. >> that's the benefit of being an independent. >> if you had to pick one. >> i don't need to pick one. we have plenty of justices up there and i'm proud of the ones we have. >> ms. warren, who would be your model supreme court justice. >> i think it would be elena kagan. >> i think she knew that as she was answering. >> really? >> i think you could. >> that was cat who swallowed the canary. >> the canary. yeah, i got you on this one. no, that was painful. but warren later took to twitter where she re-tweeted a link to a news article highlighting senator brown's answer on the supreme court. lathering in that one. as for the red sox, elizabeth
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warren said manager bobby valentine deserved another year. >> that was a mistake. do not fiddle in sports, you're always going to make somebody mad. >> that's true. >> don't you think half the fans think he should go and the other half think he should stay. >> i don't know. >> did she step in it there on twitter? was that a mistake? >> that what? >> to tweet that bobby valentine. >> no, she didn't tweet that. >> she was trying to avoid -- >> i missed that. >> not knowing anything. she had to have a point of view. >> oh. so she studied up. all right, senator brown refused to take a position saying he would leave it up to red sox management. that's probably -- >> that may not be so popular either. >> we like red sox managers. >> well, right now it's a little problem. >> bobby's on his way out. >> is he? >> then she was right. we're going to follow this, we're going to get to the presidential debate preps, as well. that's a day away?
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that's a big one. coming up next, jim vandehei with the top stories from the politico playbook. and eugene robinson, chuck todd, david faber, and calista gingrich joins us onset. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> getting out the door this morning, umbrellas needed many areas of the east coast. let me take you up the sea board. we are watching rain this morning moving up in south florida. in miami, dry right now, but you will have heavier rain two or three hours from now. tampa, showers trying to move on to the coastline. also the ft. myers area. we have numerous areas of rain in the carolinas, especially the mountainous areas, asheville to greenville. and some heavier rains moving up through eastern north carolina. washington, d.c., right in the middle right to your screen there. so far, you've been pretty dry. you do have rain to your north, though, up through maryland, and further to the north, also, numerous areas of rain from pittsburgh to state college
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through harrisburg. eventually this will work its way into new york state and new jersey, but not until later today. i do think you have a dry morning drive around new york city to hartford to philadelphia. but coming home later today, there will be numerous showers. carry that umbrella with you. from minneapolis to dallas, the west coast is dry, and there's big changes that are going to head our way. it's not going to really happen until about friday into saturday, but we're going to watch some of the coldest air of the season moving in through the middle of the country. we're going to have areas like chicago with highs only in the 50s and lows in the 30s. get ready for those sweaters and the jacket weather, the october chill is on its way. you're watching "morning joe." nice shot from washington, d.c. we're brewed by starbucks. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine.
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welcome back to "morning joe." 24 past the hour, it's time now to take a look at the morning papers. the "new york times," new york's top prosecutor is suing jpmorgan in an effort to hold banks accountable for the financial crisis of 2008. the civil lawsuit alleges misconduct at the company linked to the sale of mortgage securities during the housing boom between 2005 and 2007. this is the first complaint against a major bank. >> just for the record, they're actually really suing bear stearns was the one. >> exactly. >> but jpmorgan bought bear stearns, but it's not jpmorgan that is being -- >> this i step in and defend an industry i rarely have anything good to say about. and that the if you take over the liabilities of bear stearns to help the government bail us out of this terrible financial crisis, it doesn't strike me this is entirely fair. because if bear stearns would've gone bankrupt, then there would be no recourse. so i think this is a little bit
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of a political -- >> right. >> this is out of the book of eliot spitzer. >> we can use that clip and substitute countrywide when the other shoe drops? >> no, because countrywide was a willing sale. >> what? >> i think it was. i think bank of america thought they were getting a deal with countrywide. bear stearns was not a willing sale. >> what howard is saying is that jpmorgan did the government a favor when they bought bear stearns. it was a favor. they were asked to do it. countrywide, bank of america thought this was a great thing that they would love to own countrywide and didn't turn out to be a great -- >> it was a stupid idea for them to do it, but -- >> all right. "wall street journal," iran's currency dropped 17% in trading yesterday. a strong sign that international sanctions against the country are working. the iranian government blames economic mismanagement, though, for the sharp decline. and in the "usa today," the weather channel will now begin naming blizzards, the same way that hurricanes have been named since the 1950s.
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they'll have a greek theme and the weather channel will not be used any listed by the hurricane center. do you feel better now? glad to know that, right? let's go to politico. >> makes a blizzard more fun. joining us now jim vandehei. good morning. >> good morning. >> you're looking this morning at words the president may regret over the last four years. words he may hear about at debates, over the next five weeks. what are you looking at? >> if you think about it, last three, four weeks of the m ka pain have been dominated by romney and missteps in the romney campaign. there hasn't been a lot of focus on what the president promised and where he fell short. i think certainly through the end of the debate season, there's going to be a huge focus on promises he made that he couldn't keep. whether it was immigration reform and his promise to tackle that right away. he didn't do it, never put a serious effort into it. his promise that health care would get more popular over time. in fact, it still remains a net
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unpopular with voters. and then also just the idea on the economy which we have heard a lot about that his policies would lower the unemployment rate below 8%. that didn't happen, it was a promise they made early on in the presidency and it's one no doubt you're going to hear a lot about tomorrow night. >> jim, is health care going to play heavy in these debates, do you think? is it something we're going to hear about? and how will mitt romney deal with it? he's had months and years you could argue to figure out his answer on it. how does he address that tomorrow night? >> it's been one of the weaknesses of the romney campaign, they did not explore fundamental weaknesses, including health care, and one of the reasons is that as we all know, had many pieces that were created in massachusetts when romney was there. and so he's been reticent to engage over that fight over health care because he feels he can't give a full-throated critique of the bill because it does have pieces, like the
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mandate and other pieces that he had in massachusetts. so it makes it hard for him to wage that war. i think what he'll do tomorrow night is just try to make a case that's much more precise about where the president sort of let the american people down. that'll be his words. he'll say, you know, on the economy, on his failure to get immigration reform. on his inability to change washington and bring politicians together to tackle issues like the grand bargain where they were so close to a deal but it fell apart at the last second. and a lot of people put a lot of that blame on the president. >> if you were governor romney, how would you address that? >> i would go after that. but the problem is, if i'm the president, i pivot and say look, here's my three plans for these things and the leader of the house and the leader of the senate say we're not interested in dealing with you, first of all, and second of all, our only objective is to get rid of you. it's going to be interest. and neither one of these guys can afford to make a mistake. romney, if he makes a mistake this time, he's probably done,
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and obama, makes a mistake and it's a toss-up again. >> i've got to ask you about the american cross roads ad, the karl rove group out with a new $11 million ad buy airing in swing states, colorado, ohio, virginia, hitting the president on the economy. here they are. >> this is what president obama said the jobless rate would be if we pass the stimulus, 5.6%. but this is what the jobless rate actually is, 8.1%. the difference, about 3.7 million jobs. obama's spending drove us $5 trillion deeper in debt. and now we have fewer jobs than when he started. what obama processed versus what he delivered. >> american crossroads is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> steve, can we get you to do your reports like that. jim, what's crossroads going for here? >> well, sorts of fits in with
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the quotes we were talking about. they want to indict the president for failing to live up to his promises, particularly on the economy. and this was always the plan for the romney campaign. they thought they would be able to prevail in this election by pointing out the flaws they see in president obama. the problem is as you mentioned a couple minutes ago that indictment hasn't been crystal clear to a lot of voters. and also, at some point, voters want to know what does the future look like? how will it be different under president romney. and i think continuing through the end of the election, he has to be able to make the case, yes, you want change, and i think a lot of people do want change. they clearly want change. but he's not closed the case in saying i'm preferable to president obama. i don't even know he's come close to closing the case. and so somehow he has to breakthrough tomorrow and say this is what the world looks like and how it'll be different under president romney. >> five weeks until election
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day. jim vandehei, appreciate it, jim. coming up, a tough night for america's team, tony romo and the cowboys embarrassed on monday night football. highlights next in sports. mike rowe here at a ford tell me fiona, who's having a big tire event? your ford dealer. who has 11 major brands to choose from? your ford dealer. who's offering a rebate? your ford dealer. who has the low price tire guarantee... affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of tires? your ford dealer. i'm beginning to sense a pattern. buy four select tires, get a $60 rebate. use the ford service credit credit card, get $60 more. that's up to $120. where did you get that sweater vest? your ford dealer. you paid...wow. hmmm. let's see if walmart can help you find the same look for less. okay.
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all right. let's do some sports at 6:35 in the morning. monday night football, bears in dallas to take on the cowboys. here's the headline this morning, the dallas morning news kind of gives away the ending to the story. "tough all over." second quarter, tony romo passing on third and nine, picked off by charles "peanut" tillman. bottles, collects it, walks into the end zone for the pick six. 10-6 bears, romo having a chat with his receiver. bears in cowboy territory, jay cutler of the vanderbilt university play action hits a wide open devon hester. great catch by hester, 17-17 bears there, cutler, 275, two scores. romo gives it up again, this time the linebacker, look at the cut inside. >> that is impressive. >> about a four-five right
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there. look at the wheels on lance briggs. 75 yards for the touchdown. second touchdown of the game for the bears' defense. that's a linebacker. 24-7 there, only gets worse, tony romo in the fourth quarter tries to get something going, picked again by d.j. moore, also of vanderbilt university. romo threw a total of five interceptions. the only player in nfl history to throw five picks on monday night football twice in his career, cowboys fall 2-2, the bears are 3-1. >> does tony romo know mark sanchez? >> he made sanchez look good. he only had one interception the other day. tigers can clinch a playoff spot with a win over the royals. sixth inning, miguel cabrera, solo home run to right field, his 44th of the year, sole possession of the lead in all three triple crown categories. he's vying to become the first triple crown winner since yaz did it for the red sox in 1967. tigers win 6-3.
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the front page of the detroit news, there in, tigers capture the division title in back-to-back seasons for the first time in more than 80 years. the white sox now out of the playoff picture. there's this great debate. miguel cabrera wins the triple crown, also have the kid, mike trout have having an unbelievable season. only the third guy in baseball history to do that. who dough you vote for mvp? >> mickey cabrera. the tigers are finishing third, fourth place division. greatest player i've seen since mickey mantle when he emerged in the 1950s, but you've still got pujols, torii hunter, mvp, maybe. >> hard to deny the guy with the triple crown the mvp. now they've got the division. first for that franchise since 1981 when they were tmontreal
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expos. the first pennant for baseball in washington, d.c. since 1933. nationals still battling the reds for home field advantage. the yankees in the postseason, as well, but fighting for the division lead with the orioles. entered last night's game against the red sox tied for that lead, bottom of the second. >> why? why you doing this? >> you saw it in person, mike, i want you to see it on tv. robinson cano smashes one off the restaurant windows, 450 feet in this big second inning, that is curtis granderson. yankees score nine runs in the second, they win 10-2, and the orioles lost in tampa. yankees take a one-game lead in the division race. their magic number is two. oakland a's also clinching the final american league playoff spot with a 4-3 win over the rangers. and with that win, oakland eliminates the angels, a lot of people predicted that team would make the playoffs and maybe the world series.
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a's within one game of the rangers in the west with two to go. up next, the "new york times" john harwood joins us in studio for a look at the must-read opinion pages. keep it on "morning joe." [ female announcer ] born from the naturally sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature.
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employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable leaders is greater than ever. when you see these problems do you take a step back, or do you want to dive right in? with a degree in business from capella university, you'll have the knowledge to go further in your career than you ever thought possible. let's get started at capella.edu ♪ 43 past the hour, a live look at washington, d.c. this sun has yet to come up. the mornings are getting colder and crisper, maybe we'll sleep just a little better. maybe not. here with us now, chief washington correspondent of cnbc and political writer for the "new york times," john harwood. good to have you onboard this morning. we'll go with your must-read in the "new york times." and you say -- >> we can't have more cowboy
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highlights? >> redskins are kind of loving that, you know. >> i engage a little bit on sanchez yesterday. >> we can do a little champagne -- >> no, i don't think so. >> and then we're going to get to rattner's charts. we have a jam-packed segment ahead. you write this, john harwood, debates can shift an outcome, but it's not easy. the forceful putdown, the surprising show of skill, the opponent's fumble, superior postdebate tactics, but it also shows to fundamentally alter the campaign, a candidate has to accomplish all of those things, that underscores the challenge mitt romney faces against president obama, the clearest shift from the debates came in the 2000 race pitting governor george w. bush of texas against vice president al gore. it resulted from a rare combination of factors with demonstrating effects on mr. gore's campaign. and i guess the question is, can
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mitt romney pull something that would really kind of just give people a page-turner on, a, his personality, which he doesn't appear to really have one beyond being a really nice person. no, i'm serious. he has to show empathy and sympathy and a connection with people that he hasn't up until now. or, steve rattner, to be more specific about his policies, which many argue he hasn't been very specific nor paul ryan. >> he hasn't been very specific. but i think his bigger problem is the first one you said. that he's got to create some sense of connectivity or relationship with the voters. i think that's really his goal as well as what we were talking about in the earlier segment of trying to bring a clear depiction of obama's policies and the fact they haven't done everything they were supposed to. >> john harwood, can he do that in a debate? is the debate the setting? that would be when you're most clenched and concerned about every word that comes out of your mouth. how do you show the things mitt
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romney needs to communicate to the public? >> it's possible. he's got to play really well. one of the nationals' pitchers got hammered the other night and he said i lost my arm slot. and he was talking about the exact right angle of the ball to the delivery of the plate. mitt romney's got to find precisely the right arm slot. aggression with the right amount of respect for a popular president. he's got to figure out a way to flush out his agenda without getting to the unpopular parts he's been avoiding talking about like what are the tax breaks he's going to take to get the rates down. he's got to be on offense but not too much. it's hard. everything went right for george bush in 2000. gore was bad, he had orange make-up. he got in bush's face, that didn't go very well. bush overperformed, no foreign policy experience, he did very well. and the bush team outspun the gore people because they pushed their story line. and you went from, you know,
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minus five before the debate to plus a couple afterward and went on to win that disputed victory. but yes, romney can do it, he was a smart guy, good in most of the debates for the republicans. on the other hand, obama's pretty smart too and there's not much expectation to think he's going to screw up. >> what about, john, playing to that dull incompetent thing? he said in his convention speech. he said, look, i'm not going to heal the world, not going to part the seas, i want to help you and your family. the message being maybe i'm not as charismatic, i'm not a superstar the way many of you feel about this man, but i'm a businessman and i want to save you from what's happening to this economy. doesn't he play it down the middle that way? >> that's always been the whole card he's had. but he's got to project the idea that he is competent, he is fluent in creating jobs and expanding the economy. and as the strategist, you know, tad, for al gore said that the
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tone he's got to take with obama is you should know by now that these policies aren't going to work. and i know better. >> john, what about the thesis, it's more than a thesis that if governor romney standing there with the incumbent president of the united states is just there at the end. he wins a certain amount. he's just standing there at the end, he survived. >> well, he does gain by being on stage with an incumbent president. that's an elevating effect. the question is, he needs a lot of elevation right now. entitlement reform is going to be a huge topic during these debates. and steve rattner, you have your charts on this, and you'll break it apart for the candidates because it's very hard to understand where they stand on these things because they won't say anything. >> we're going to talk about medicare, which is one of the big issues, and you're right, it's very, very hard to break it apart. but you see surprising things about where they stand. so we're going to lay it out as clear as i can. there are three plans.
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therest obama's plan, there's romney's sort of plan and ryan's plan. let's take a look at this and the next ten years. so the ten years in front of us and what each proposed. what's interesting is that president obama and congressman ryan have almost the exact same proposal for the next ten years, save $1 trillion from medicare, not by cutting benefits or raising costs to elderly, but reducing payments to hospitals and other kind of providers. interestingly those two are in the same place on the next two years. romney for whatever set of reasons says he doesn't want to do anything in the next ten years, which means that $1 trillion that his vice presidential running mate would save he does not want to save. he's in a different place on the next ten years. so let's go to the period after that. what's the long-term plan that each of these guys has for cost containment. again, very interestingly, president obama congressman ryan want to achieve exactly the same
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level of medicare spending over the definite future. they want to increase by gdp plus 1.5%. they would get there different ways. president obama would get there by efficiencies, new methods. ryan would get there by having private competition. in terms of the actual dollars, it's the same. romney, again, we can ask why, does not want any cap on medicare spending. he wants private competition, but not willing to say here's how much i'm willing to spend. now, even if obama or ryan's targets are met, medicare still has problems because you're increasing spending faster than the rate of growth of the economy. so when you look at the long-term budget outlook, what you see is that no matter which plan you think is actually going to happen, the dotted line is no plan, the red line is roughly obama/ryan, you still have medicare taking an increasing share of the federal budget of
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the gdp as you see here. and what it does is it squeezes out everything else. defense, infrastructure, all kinds of other programs. there's green line going from there down to there. and the last point, the social security, which we do talk about and is important, which is the blue line, you can see only goes up slightly. social security's not the problem, the problem's medicare. and with or without obama plan or ryan plan, it's going to continue to eat up resources. >> on romney's plan, doesn't he have a cap? that is to say a voucher, he won't tell us the level the voucher is? >> not exactly, john. ryan has had three plans. 3.0, he does not -- the value of the voucher is supposed to be enough to pay you to get the same service you get on medicare today. that's what he said it's going to be. which means that he he still has no cap.
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he's banking on competition among private insurers to bring that cost in. he's backed off from that. >> okay. so pare it down for me quickly, what truly defines them then on these entitlements? >> two approaches, market versus more government involvement. because he's on 3.0 and 1.0 and 2.0 were much more draconian, he'd be pushed to go in more of a draconian way. >> okay. john harwood, stay with us if you can. coming up, chuck todd joins us live from denver. we'll ask him about brand new polling out just this morning. keep it right here on "morning joe." [ "human" by the human league playing ]
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the president is going to lose the first debate. he's just not a great debater. >> look whose feelings of barack obama came back to her. i guess what happened in charlotte stayed in charlotte. >> when american markets broke down, who jump started our engine? barack obama! and when america needed him most, who got us rolling again
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on the road to recovery? >> but let me ask you this, people, who couldn't get laid in a whore house with a first full of hundreds! barack obama. >> i still can't get over her speech. alex, will you please get some clips of that. i want to go back in time. that was -- >> when she was on the dating game. have you seen the clip from the dating game? >> that was fantastic. no, i found her to be riveting at the convention. >> she was riveting. >> i could not take my eyes off her. >> the way that charlie sheen is riveting. >> it was unbelievable. why not? let's throw it out there. >> stay in your own zone. don't channel jennifer granholm here? >> you don't think that'd be attractive. >> what does extreme mika look like. >> i could do the tease as
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granholm. what do you think? >> do some extreme mika. >> some extreme mika. i'd need some vodka. you don't want that, trust me. it's usually based on anger and you usually have done something wrong. willie, what's that like? >> there's some screaming, there's some intensity in the eyes. >> yeah. >> there's some veins through here. >> yeah? >> yeah. >> so it is kind of granholm-ish. >> in a negative way. >> it's never a good day when mommy's not happy. up next, eugene robinson and chuck todd. we'll be right back. "ever ask somebody to lend you a foot?" "who thinks about stuff like that?" "vince mahe grew up on two continents... and noticed that wherever you go, people have their hands full, but their feet free." "the result? a liftgate you operate with your foot." "code name?" "open sesame"
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♪ people want to know who's going to win. who's going to score the punches and who's going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make and there's going to be all the scoring of winning and losing and, you know, in my view, it's not so much winning and losing or even the people themselves, the president and myself, it's about something bigger than that. these debates are an opportunity for each of us to describe the pathway forward for america that we would choose. >> welcome back to "morning joe." sun's going to come up, i promise, it's time to get out of bed. mike barnicle, steve rattner, howard dean, and john harwood are still with us. and joining us from washington, associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. and we have chuck todd coming up, as well, to go through some of these polls. a lot going on, we'll talk about
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presidential politics to start this block with. are you okay, barnicle? >> i am, sort of. >> are you awake? >> i am now. >> i want to read from your column, i think it sets us up well. you ask in the "washington post," which mitt will show up to the debate. we know who obama is and what he believes. some people like him, and some don't, but the nation has seen him in action for nearly four years. his job is clear, defend his record and outline his plans for the next four years. romney's task is more difficult. he has to introduce himself to the american people. he has to erase the impressions left by all the mitt romneys we've met earlier, and he has to reveal a coherent person, one whom voters can imagine as a leader. the question is, whether such a coherent person exists. in the business world where romney had great success, winning means saying whatever you need to close the deal. a presidential campaign, though,
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is different. at some point you have to say what you really believe. and i guess eugene, i'll let you start off the segment and ask you if that is possible in a debate, which is, look, great television, great platform to exchange ideas. but it's a contrived event, which is surrounded by a great deal of stress. you're hanging on every word that's coming out of your mouth. >> yeah. it's a very difficult situation for both candidates, always difficult. and it's a totally contrived situation, and made for television event. but you do have to sound authentic, at least, you have to sound like you know what you're talking about and, and that you have some conviction behind it. and i -- i do think that's the challenge from romney having changed his positions on so many issues over time or sometimes over the same week. i think it's a battle for him. >> and maybe howard dean the
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battle will be to decide what path to take. because he can't do all of that. >> no, he can't. i'm predicting he takes a more moderate tack. at this point in the campaign, the right is so fired up to vote against obama that romney can get away with saying things on things like immigration and abortion rights he couldn't possibly have gotten away with when he was running in the primaries, which is what dug him this big hole. i'm predicting a move to the center because he's all over the map right now and he's got to be some place in this debate. >> harwood? >> i agree in part and disagree in part with gene. i don't think this is a contrived event. i think this is two guys on stage. >> yeah. >> in front of tens of millions of people. >> that sounds pretty contrived to me. >> what's contrived about it? they're making the case for the people picking the president. and they've got to show with authenticity and passion what they would do for the country. i think romney's biggest problem has been a lack of authenticity. people not being sure if he's saying what he believes and if
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he's really bringing the actual expertise he's got inside of him to bear in the campaign. and i think that's what he's got -- >> alex, how long are the debates? >> 90 minutes. >> 90 minutes, okay. i just think -- i think it's a really tough platform to make a big difference unless there's some incredible moment. having said that, we'll see. we'll see. i want to read george will, steve rattner, and have you respond to this. he also talks about the debates. unfortunately for mitt romney, presidential politics is like football, a game with a clock, one with just five weeks of ticks remaining. in football, a team behind by lots of points late in the game must take gambles. romney is behind in the important swing states with the national electorate regarding who would best handle health care. on wednesday night it might be risky for romney not to take risks, but what can he do?
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he might add to his policies by embracing, say, breaking up the largest banks, the sound policy that would subvert the -- but not good venues for explaining anything, actually. but especially not new initiatives. and october is a time for summations to the jury, not new submissions of evidence. you agree? >> i agree with that completely. i think the idea of romney going out there and saying let's break up the big banks, i think it would not help him. i think his -- apart from what howard and john have said, i think his challenge is he's got to deal with this 47% problem. he's got to somehow walk back from that and convince people he actually cares about all of america. that's his job as well as humanizing himself. i think the moderator and president obama are going to be desperately trying to get this guy to be specific about what it is he wants to do. not only does he change positions, but right now, he
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won't say what he wants to do about tax loopholes, and medicare, and if i were the moderator, i would be just hammering on that. >> you know what i would love to see? and i don't know if this is possible because, again, i will double down, it's so contrived and the moderator has an agenda. it's a show to an extent that lots of viewers, everybody has an agenda in it. and the candidates will want to get their points out but not have to double down on them or engage on them. i would love for a moderator to put out a topic and let them go at it. >> you can't do that. the reason you can't do that like what we saw in football for the first three weeks while we had the substitute referees, it gets crazy, people talk over each other. i agree, i'm sort of half way between you and john. it's somewhat contrived, but the only chance postconvention that they get a chance to say relatively unfiltered -- >> it's controlled. >> but you have to have controls
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otherwise it's a fistfight. >> is as close as you're going to get what you ask for. he'll roll the ball in the middle of the court and let them go at it. i do think one thing to remember is just like at the convention, he's going after you. i was talking to a romney strategist the other day who said we need 60% of the white vote to win, and our numbers with white women are not good enough. that's what he's going to do. >> mike barnicle. >> gene, let me ask you -- >> yeah. >> -- representing the once and great news business, john's here. i find it absolutely astounding and was reminded by how astounding i find it by steve's polls a few minutes ago, that with 35 days left in the election, governor romney has still not had his feet held to
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the proverbial media fire in terms of specifics. what is his plan for social security and medicare and other things like that? it's astounding. >> it's astounding to me too, mike. i don't understand it. he's got to be specific at some point. look, he can go into the debate with one of two attitudes. he can go in with the attitude which i think he's had during the campaign. it's enough that i'm not barack obama. it's enough that i'm a business guy who is running for president and people should just vote for me because they have no reason to like obama. if he goes in with that attitude, i frankly think that's a loser. i think he has to go in and talk about the future and if he's going to talk about the future and what kind of country he wants us to have, he's got to be specific about these concrete issues. what are you going to do with medicare? >> hold on for one second, though, obama has not laid out a specific plan. obama has put out a cap for
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medicare, but he hasn't said do you want to raise the eligibility age that you talked about with john boehner. we can assume he will, but he hasn't said so. >> he has a specific plan for medicare, you may say it's not enough, not going to work, but he has a specific plan for medicare involving this thing called the ipad and a lot of things we're not going to get into. >> no, that's not the totality of his plan. he said he's going to do more but he hasn't said what the more is. and he hasn't said what he's going to do on social security. talking about eligibility -- >> all the things that has to be done. >> this is what the media does what we're doing here. the truth is, american people are not voting on specifics. and gene, i'd love to have you jump in on this. if you want to know who won the debate, turn off the sound. watch the mannerism, the attitude, gene? >> yeah. i do think those intangibles may be more likely to move the needle just because debates
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rarely move the needle. sometimes they do, but they don't make a huge difference usually. and you know, we'll see what happens this year. if there is a moment, if there is a there you go again or a sighing moment or somebody invading somebody else's personal space, which i guess they're not allowed to do anymore, we could see -- people get impressions from that. but i wouldn't turn the sound entirely off. i think people were listening this year. >> no, exclusively, look on the tivo, look on the tivo, and you'll find out -- >> tivo it, exactly. >> what are the chances president obama's going to do one of these eastern europe things? i don't think very good. >> i have a question for you, mr. harwood, based on where you're coming from in this back and forth, what do you the media has done better? cover the polls or the issues
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that affect people? >> you know, you can't make candidates say what they don't want to say. >> yeah. >> so mitt romney is not going to say what he's going to do to the mortgage deduction, what he's going to do the charitable, the tax breaks you would need to get the rate down, but president obama hasn't told us how he's going to get the corporate rate down either. so a lot of this stuff, ronald reagan ran for president in 1984 said i want to do tax reform. he didn't have a plan, he came up with his plan and passed it two years later. >> there are a fair number of specifics out from both candidates. we're trying to parch them or compare them. >> well, some people in the media. there's a lot of media. and so different people do different things. i think there's more policy analysis available to people in all of the iterations of media.
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>> i think this would be the best platform for debate. do we have chuck yet, alex? >> he's not -- >> oh, good. new polls out from quinnipiac university show president obama with a narrow lead heading into wednesday's debate. president obama leading 49% among likely voters. but when it comes to women, president obama has stretched a lead to 18 points, 56% to 38%. the gap tightens when it comes to which candidate would better handle the economy, just one point separates them. when asked who would win tomorrow night's debate, the president nearly doubles mitt romney 54% to 28%. that doesn't mean anything. with us from denver, host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd standing in the dark in denver. chuck, break down the polls for us. >> well, you know, it's been interesting about him. we've got a new poll that comes out tonight. what i've thought interesting about the polls in the last few
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days, quinnipiac, cnn, they all show the same thing. the president's number, the bounce he got out of the convention, it has not deflated. he is staying in the 49%, 50%. >> granholm. >> the fluidity is in romney's number. romney is anywhere, instead of sitting in the single digits, instead of the low 40s, he's moved up to the mid-40s, inching up to 46% or 47%. that shows you where the give is. that's good news for romney, the bad news is, he needs the president to deflate a little bit. he's got to start peeling -- granted this is step one which is catching up, step two is then to peel away a little bit from the president. >> so much easier said than done. rattner? >> chuck, what about the issue that romney is doing so well in the red states that makes the race look closer on a national basis but when you get into the swing state polls, obama is now opening so much daylight it's
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got to be so difficult for romney to catch up? >> reporter: well, look, the path to 270 has been an issue, but i would be very careful of the subgroups of a national poll that tell you here where the swing states are. you're talking about nine states. some pollsters are only including eight in this little subgroup. so you have a margin of error in here that reaches 9% or 10%. so you may report a double-digit lead. for instance the abc poll reported a double-digit lead in the swing states for the president. except it has a double-digit margin of error. they only included eight states in their swing state. we include nine in ours. so just careful of that fluctuation. that doesn't -- obviously mitt romney's strong in the red states, but the numbers i've seen consistently in our polling, the president is stronger in the blue states than romney is in the red states in our splits and there's still
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more blue state voters than red state voters, steve. >> chuck, one number jumps out here at me. it's the who was better at handling the economy question. and it's basically jump ball. the president 49%, governor romney 48%. that's an astounding show of strength, i would think, for the president of the united states. given the reality of our economic circumstances. >> reporter: i think you have to look at it the other way. an astounding show of weakness in mitt romney. i saw yesterday, brett o'donnell who was a debate coach for mitt romney until he was pushed out of the inner circle whether it's because he took too much credit for romney's good debate back in the primary, whatever the reason. but i thought he made a great point when he said, you know, mitt romney has made the case that the economy is sputtering. what he has not done is he has not successfully connected it to policies from president obama. and he's not going to win this debate unless he makes that
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connection in the minds of the voters. and i think when you see all these polls that show dead even on the economy, he hasn't made that -- the president's done a better job and including that's president clinton's job, but a better job of saying, hey, this was a deep economic mess, my policies are still kicking in. you've got to give it time. he had more success making that argument than romney has trying to say, no, no, no, obama's policies have made it worse. >> john harwood? >> well, gene, i would say, i think chuck's point is the right one, which is that he's got to connect bad circumstances in the economy to what obama's done. but even more important is connecting something better in the future with his own policies. the idea that tax cuts, which he hasn't been talking about all that much. he barely mentioned them in his convention speech, that's going to produce the kind of growth he's talked about. and as you know, that's not an
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easy case to make. some of the evidence suggests from the clinton years, it doesn't produce that. >> yeah, i agree, john. i think he does have to make that case, though. he has to make some sort of affirmative case. i really don't think it's enough for romney to point at obama and say he's doing a bad job. that hasn't gotten him over the hump. and i do think he has to say, look, here's what i'm going to do and here's how it's going to make things better. and if -- if he's going to talk about tax cuts, he's got to explain how that's going to make the life of, well, frankly, the 47% any better. and that's a challenge. >> all right. eugene robinson, thank you. john harwood, thung. chuck todd, we'll see you on the daily rundown. coming up, a showdown in last night's massachusetts race. senator scott brown and
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elizabeth warren face off in their second televised debate. kelly o'donnell joins us with a live report. but first, some say if we fix the housing market, we'll fix the economy. so how close are we to solving the foreclosure crisis? cnbc's david faber and the founder of the online lending company lending tree joins us onset next on "morning joe." ♪
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♪ when the first announced purchases of mortgage back purchases in late 2008, interest rates average above 6%, today they average about 3.5%. lower mortgage rates are one of the reasons for the improvement in the housing market which in turn is benefitting our economy more broadly. >> that was chairman of the federal reserve ben bernanke
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yesterday discussing the fed's impact on the recovery of the housing market. and joining us now, co-host of cnbc's squawk on the street david faber, and doug lebda. good to have you both onboard this morning. it seems to me housing always seems like a separate issue that maybe didn't get talked about as much. is that retrospectively incorrect? because it does seem so fundamental, david. >> it's fundamental in the economy in many ways. certainly helped us during the boom period in housing that we saw adding to gdp, construction, and so many other things. people refinancing their homes. it hasn't been discussed that much, you're right, particularly given that the president seems to have backed off a bit, perhaps, on a number of plans that would've relieved people from mortgages that they otherwise are not in a great position to pay but there was a lot of political opposition to that. but housing is starting to come back. we are starting to see real signs of not just stabilization but even perhaps some growth.
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doug can speak, i'm sure, to some more of the specifics about what we're seeing, but even new home sales, existing home sales, and prices finally have not just stabilized. >> steve rattner? >> this is what's interesting about our political system. we went through this housing crisis without the government really doing anything. because as we know, housing is perhaps the most toxic of all these issues even more than medicare. your friend rick santelli gets on the floor and -- >> that started in part the tea party with that rant i don't know how many years ago. >> but the point is you're now in a situation where it's very hard for the government to get involved in with housing because it's so politicized. you have this question, do you help people under water or do you not help people under water? we've gone through this whole housing cycle without the government doing much of anything and as david said, we're coming out the other side, but this was clearly just the market working, the government on the sidelines and the market correcting. >> that raises the question off of today's headlines and other papers about the new york state
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attorney general in concert with this larger federal committee suing bear stearns through jpmorgan for mortgage back securities fraud. how do you sit and get together on housing with the government when so many state attorneys general and the federal government are so intent on suing you? >> i'll tell you, that is one very significant issue that we wish would have been corrected with dodd/frank and some of these other things, the notion that there are now 50 states in the mix, so you have a situation, for example, the big banks are regulated by the federal government, but the non-bank mortgage companies are actually regulated by 50 states and the federal government with a patchwork of regulations and a lot of uncertainty. by the way, all that government uncertainty right now, while rates are very low, they actually could be lower. >> lower? >> they could be lower. rates are .25% higher over treasuries than they've ever been really because of fear and
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uncertainty because of future regulations that are still yet to come out. that's $50 a month for an average home buyer. >> and something else we don't talk a lot about but also very significant, even with the incredibly low mortgage rates, try and get one. you have got to go through the banks are extraordinarily stringent now. 180 degrees from what they were six, seven years ago, and even somebody might be breathing. >> and people with not enough equity in their homes can't refinance either. can't meet the loan to value standards. >> it seems to me this would be -- we wouldn't be in the situation that we're in if the housing industry itself was given a great deal of support from every level. it would create jobs, it would create -- i mean, it would get the economy rolling along, would it not? what am i missing? why is this the secondary conversation? >> what you really need is to encourage what's known as the private securitization market to come back. right now -- and these are mortgage back securities that
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investors buy. right now, the market only exists if it's backed by fannie mae or freddie mac and lenders are very fearful. even that the reason the lending guidelines are so tight are because fannie mae and freddie mac have their guidelines and the banks make them tighter. everybody's worried about what are known as loan buy backs or reps on warranties they've made on these loans. so the secondary market, people who don't want to invest, don't want to invest in bonds, and there are very arcane things in dodd/frank that are making investors sit on the sidelines before they'll actually buy a mortgage back bond. so credit is tight. >> so, david, what do you hear? you go to work every day and you talk to many people in the business community, right? so you've got this huge obstacle in terms of economic progress in this country called a housing market and foreclosures that affect all of us and throughout all 50 states. but you've got this huge issue and yet it seems like the federal government cannot sit
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down with members of the business community, the financial institutions, whatever, and resolve it. what is going on here? >> they have not been able to resolve it. back to i think what steve's point was, it's a huge political issue when you put out there the idea that i'm going to help you with your mortgage but perhaps not your neighbor. it just didn't really work as a policy in terms of something that seemingly could be impleme implemented. and the president has backed off on a lot of what were strong words a couple of years ago, steve, in terms of trying to deal with it. the market's come back. we talk about housing now as a positive in this economy, no longer a negative. >> that's the important -- one important point, we've come through the cycle and it's now coming back. if you look at mitt romney's 59-point plan, there was not a word about housing because it's such a politically toxic issue. the market as worked, we're coming back out of it with no thanks to the government. >> david faber, front page in the "new york times," looking at a plan, potentially a bipartisan plan to avoid the fiscal cliff. i guess there's a deadline january 1st.
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what's going on? maybe this is part of the problem. but give us a lay of the land in terms of if we're going to get out of this crisis and if there will be people in washington who actually work together to do so. >> well, one hopes there will be. you know, it's funny, i would not have expected to hear quite as much as i have from the business community as to how this has paralyzed them. and sometimes i think it's a bit overstated, but you hear it all the time. and in fact, now we're in the fourth quarter of the year, it's only beginning to even pick up in terms of -- perhaps the central reason you get so many ceos and decision makers at the top levels of companies who say i'll spend what i need to spend, but i'm not going to take more risk, not going to spend more capital, open a new factory, whatever it might be, spend more money because of the fiscal cliff, because i'm concerned of what's going to happen in this economy come early next year, how much we'll see gdp growth if not slow stop as a result of the increase in taxes across the board. one hopes they can deal with it in washington. although given the judgment of
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the business community, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of confidence. >> what you'll see is an unprecedented effort by the business community, i've been helping organize it, a campaign to fix the debt. over 100 ceos including general electric and walmart getting onboard to do something. i think the business community is concerned. >> are they going to stand up for a change and say something? because every time i hear about this, they shirk back and you never hear from them. >> they are going to stand up this time. >> because you're leading them, steve. >> no. >> just the uncertainty. >> david faber, thank you very much. we'll see you on cnbc "squawk on the street." still ahead, calista gingrich joins us onset. also the financial times gillian tett. we'll have a live report from nbc's kelly o'donnell to help break down the big moments. keep it right here on "morning joe." i'm with sandra who just got these great glasses.
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♪ she's obviously misstating the facts. these were a rejection by both democrats and republicans, professor. if you're going to comment on my record, i would at least have you refer to it -- >> can we just -- >> is this going to be -- >> go ahead. >> excuse me, i'm not a student
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in your classroom, please let me respond, okay. thank you. >> wow. that was senator scott brown and elizabeth warren facing off last night in a contentious debate for the u.s. senate in massachusetts. and joining us now from lowell is nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell who was there last night, watched the whole thing unfold. kelly, what are your take aways from the debate? >> reporter: well, good morning, mika, if you are a debate lover like i am, this was really something to watch. in part because you heard that ground swell from the audience. there were about 4,500 people inside the arena here. there were thousands more outside who had been supporting their candidate and protesting the other. so there was a bit of that feel of the room that you don't often get with debates even though our friend david gregory said, please don't get the audience involved and take away time from the candidates. but moments like that gave a
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real feel for what was happening. it was tense. scott brown, of course, is the republican who was elected two years ago to fill out the term of ted kennedy. now he is a republican in massachusetts trying to run on a year when president obama's on the top of the ballot. so that is a challenge for him. now, for elizabeth warren, she's a ferris-tiirst-time candidate been criticized for some of the more partisan things she has said. so one of the key moments was kind of a question put to her about who would she want to work with among republicans? again, because scott brown touts himself as someone who has worked with the other side, what would elizabeth warren do? so here's a keen moment from the debate. >> can you name some republicans in the senate today that you are able to work with on big issues, substantive issues that the country faces? >> probably richard lugar would be one that comes to mind. >> he's not going to be there. >> he's not going to be there. >> so who else could you name, senator?
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>> that is a problem. let me do this one -- let me do this -- >> let me ask the question, though. are there any republicans who are actually going to be in the senate you feel you could work with substantively and compromise with. >> it depends on what the subject matter is. >> let me see here, that is a great question. i think justice scalia is a great judge, justice kennedy. justice kennedy is obviously very good and justice roberts, justice sotomayor. i think they're very qualified people there. >> scalia and sotomayor don't exactly -- >> that's the beauty of being an independent. >> if you had to pick one. if you had to pick one -- >> listen, i don't need to pick one. we have plenty of justices up there and i'm proud of the ones we have. >> i think it would probably be elena kagan. >> all right. >> okay. we lost kelly o'donnell, but mike barnicle, that must have
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been amusing for you to watch being mr. massachusetts himself. >> it's interesting, kelly's reporting, she, you know, obviously -- and i've heard this from several other people, there was a tense atmosphere. >> yeah. >> in the hall. i would think one of the things that senator scott brown does not need is tense. he needs friendly. and when he goes after elizabeth warren and appears to be something that people think he is, a nice guy, i don't think that rebounds very well for him. >> no, but she's going to have explaining to do too after this. the question about which republicans could you work with and naming one that is retiring and not being able to name another one. to the extent people want more collegiali collegiality, more compromise, she didn't make a case for that. >> there's no republican she's going to work with. >> all right. our thanks to kelly o'donnell. when we come back, world renowned violinist and conductor joins us next on "morning joe."
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♪ >> we found a way. >> we always do. >> that is world renowned violinist itzhak perlman playing at the inauguration for president obama. he's out with his latest album "eternal echo." it's an honor to have you here with us. >> nice to be here. >> i have to start selfishly because i spent some time on shelter island, new york, for people who don't know, it's a beautiful little place, a little bit isolated, you have to take a ferry out there.
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way out at the end of long island where every summer a collection of the world's greatest music prodigies come together thanks to you and learn to play music from each other. >> well, actually, my wife started this program. she started it 18 years ago. and it was her dream to do this program. and, you know, i always keep saying i only work there. that's not my -- that program is totally her brain child and her idea. and it's a phenomenal program. it's for young string players. and their ages -- two programs, one between 12 and 18 and then we kick them out when they get to be older and then there's another one for 18 and over. and it's very difficult to describe. the only thing i can tell you is that all of these kids are on a very high level. and we have -- it's a full program and nobody goes there for fun, they're going there to really work. and it's like they have orchestra, everybody sings in chorus, i teach, we have a great
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faculty, we have the violin, of course, and then they have a lot of fun playing music. it's absolutely great. >> we reap the benefits. we get to go on friday and saturday, it's a wonderful, wonderful program. i'm so glad you do that and pass on your own gifts. tell us a little bit about "eternal echoes." >> well, this album, i'm playing with a canter that i've heard for the first time in israel when i was there a couple of years ago. and everybody's telling me an amazing fellow. so i went here and i was so moved and so impressed. not only by the way he was singing, but just the voice was incredible and i said great idea. maybe we can do something together with violin and voice. and besides, all these pieces -- a lot of these pieces i heard as a youngster growing up in israel. so i said wouldn't it be a great idea? and then we approached sony. sony said let's go for it. and so it's amazing. >> you know, listening to the
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composition coming in to this segment and listening to the backtrack that we hear occasionally as you speak, music for the soul. just hearing it does something for your soul. it has a calming effect, a peaceful effect. >> you mean you heard it? >> yeah. >> good. >> how old were you when you realized given your talent, your god-given talent this was a gift that you could pass on? >> well, as far as teaching, you know, i've been teaching for a long, long time. that i suppose is passing on. i started to teach in my mid-20s already. and i tell my students never, ever miss an opportunity to teach. because when you teach others, you teach yourself. and i find that my -- the way that i play the violin today would not be the same had i not been doing a lot of teaching. because when you teach, you've got to think a particular way -- especially when you teach talented kids. when they're talented and you
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say what do i say? so you have to listen with a different ear. same thing with conducting, you know, when you conduct a great orchestra, what do you do when you conduct beethoven's fifth, you have to listen a particular way. teaching is very important. >> you're a performer, you're a teacher -- >> conductor. >> when you wake up in the morning, which is the one that makes you most excited? >> being on the "morning joe." >> see, you watch the show. >> oh, yes. oh yes, all the time. i'm an msnbc -- what do you call -- fan. >> junkie. >> i think i might know what it's like to be a conductor just because, you know, of them, especially when joe is here. >> conduct all the time, telling you what to do. >> no, no, no, no -- i tell them what to do. >> his performers behave better than your performers. >> maybe you can help me understand how you communicate
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effectively when you are pointing and trying to gesture they should wrap it. >> oh, wrap it. oh, how was that. just something very subtle. >> i do that. >> is that okay? >> all right. >> before we wrap it, what do you hear when you hear your own music? >> right now? i hear the actual music. i don't hear my playing, i hear actually how i'm trying to phrase everything. that's what i hear. right now i hear it more than ever, you know, because usually a lot of time everybody's busy playing. i don't do that anymore. i just hear what i'm playing. and that really helps. >> and before we let you go -- >> you're letting me go already. >> not yet. >> i was having such a good time. >> we need you to conduct the show. >> with all the teaching you do and bringing out these gifts in young people, who brought it out in you? i know you started when you were 3 years old and it's not every parent who puts a violin in their 3-year-old's hands.
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>> i heard on the radio, violin music, and i said i want to do that. >> wow. >> it's -- you have to have a passion for it and you have to have -- and everybody has something else they like. i just happen to like fiddle. so that's it. >> a fiddle. >> just happened to fiddle. i don't think it's that simple. okay. >> i'm laughing because my 3-year-old's great gift is wiping spaghetti sauce on the wall. >> that's good. maybe he'll be an artist, you know, might be a painter. >> an abstract painter. >> absolutely. >> itzhak perlman, "eternal echoes," and of course the perlman music program on shelter island, new york. >> thank you very much. great to meet with you. calista gingrich will join us onset. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.
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the president is going to lose the first debate. he's just not a great debater. >> look whose feelings about
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barack obama came back to her. i guess what happened in charlotte stayed in charlotte. >> when american markets broke down. who jump started our engine? barack obama. and when america needed him most, who got us rolling again on the road to recovery? >> let me ask you this, people, who couldn't get laid in whore house with a fist full of hundreds? >> i still can't believe her speech. >> we played that clip in our last hour. many people wanted to see the real speech. so we're going to go back to charlotte to the dnc. >> sure, sure, mitt romney loves our lakes and our trees. he loves our cars so much they even have their own elevator.
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in romney's world, the cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. sure he's made a lot of money. good for him. or maybe i should say good for him. president obama with the auto rescue, he saved more than one million american jobs. but it wasn't just michigan. hey, hey, hey. in florida 35,000 jobs ohio. manufacturing is rebounding. why? and on your ballot, the d is for drive forward. the r is for reverse.
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in this election we are drive ing forward, not back. let's reelect the great president barack obama. >> that is just the most fantastic thing i have ever seen. >> you have to appreciate a speaker who signs the speech while she's delivering. orally. we are driving forward. >> that was incredible. >> you worked with her. >> i worked with her. that's not the jennifer gramhome i knew. >> maybe she was just excited. >> clearly. >> tomorrow morning on this very program, bob woodward and mika's dad. still ahead this morning, the candidates for u.s. senate take the stage in massachusetts. we'll have details and clips when we come back. ask me what it's like when my tempur-pedic moves.
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i know. good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast. 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. time to wake up, everybody, as you take a live look at new york city. back with us, we have mike barnicle, howard dean and steve rattner. what was your initial reaction to the elizabeth warren/scott brown debate? >> scott brown fell into the trap that male politicians fall
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into when they debate women. he looked overbearing and angry. you can't do that when debating a woman candidate. i thought he was in a lot of trouble after that debate. >> whoa. the debate was last night. we have some clips for you ahead. also a look at the preparations for the presidential debates. now a day away. but first, we'll start with afghanistan. nato secretary general says there's a possibility that western forces could be withdrawn from afghanistan more quickly than previously planned. he suggested the deadly spike of insider attacks has hit the morale of troops serving in the war zone. in today's front page of "the new york times" says u.s. abandoning hopes for taliban peace deal. the times reports american officials are giving up on what was once a critical component of their it strategy in afghanistan. they are opting for far less
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ambitious plan that would have the afghans work out a deal among themselves once troops withdraw by 2014. chief foreign correspondent richard engel has been covering this for nearly 11 years and filed this report. >> reporter: this woman is about to die executed for adultery. the man she was with got off scot-free. the taliban recently filmed this video of their justice and to say they are making a comeback. some 30 miles away, we saw few signs of what the u.s. would consider progress in afghanistan and no evidence that the american plan to hand over to a credible, stable afghan government will work. these village elders tell me once u.s. troops leave, a civil war will begin and u.s.-trained afghan forces will not be able to stop it. >> are you preparing for this
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fight? are you already stockpiling weapons and ammunition and getting yourselves ready? >> translator: yes, we are. we will definitely fight. >> reporter: you think it's possible the taliban will try and come back? >> translator: yes, they will, e. >> reporter: it makes a decades worth of american battles seem futile. it wasn't always like this. >> the united states military has begun strikes. >> reporter: at first the war had momentum and a clear purpose. al qaeda with bases in afghanistan attacked the united states on 9/11. just three months later, the u.s. drove the taliban from power. al qaeda and osama bin laden were on the run. it was done with a few hundred cia officers, special forces and air power. a quick victory, but not
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decisive. >> that was nbc's richard engel reporting. they have made gains. the life expectancy has extended because of health care. girls are getting educated. but when you look at that piece, you realize there's no way to stay in and not a good way of getting out either. >> this is a very depressing story. on october 7th, the united states begins its 12th year of war in afghanistan. 12 years. for those at home this morning getting the kids ready for school or getting ready for your workday, think of the war in afghanistan this way. if a 20-year-old marine is killed by the afghans our supposed allies, that marine was 8 years of age when this war began. his first year in little league. he dies in afghanistan, a country we are not going to change. a country that's not our country. a country we ought to leave right away. >> it's a big problem. i was very supportive of both
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president bush and president obama in afghanistan mainly because of the hope we could turn around what happens to women. but we have the same problem we have in vietnam. when you're working with a corrupt government, people can't save themselves. we need to get out. >> the fight against al qaeda continues not only in afghanistan but increasingly in north africa. "the washington post" is reporting that the white house has held secret meetings to examine the terror group in the region. the al qaeda affiliate there has believed to have gain ed a larg amount of weapons in libya. according to the post, the white house meetings predate the attacks on the u.s. compound in libya and have included possible strikes against targets in north africa. it will be interesting to hear how the issues are played out in one of the debates. >> the taliban isn't going to sit down with us and work out a government and work alongside s us. it should not come to a surprise
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to people. now we walk away from that possibili possibility. >> obviously, afghanistan has a long history of the british and soviets and everybody. there's a famous saying you can't want cross more for people than they want it themselves. we are not going to change the culture of afghanistan. it's not why we went there. we went there to deal with al qaeda. >> i think the biggest problem in afghanistan is actually pakistan. if we had a reliable ally next door, everything would have changed. but pakistan has made this much worse by supporting the taliban, by supporting terrorist netwo s networks. when this all ends and we leave afghanistan chrks is going to be sooner rather than later, the question is what are we going to do about this mess in pakistan, this failed state which is a a huge state with nuclear weapons. it's an enormous problem for us into the future. >> i don't know what we're realistically going to do with pakistan. they are a huge country with nuclear weapons. >> we are going to have to figure out a way to contain
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them. they are causing trouble all over the region. >> moving to politics now, we'll get to the debate last night that was spirited and at times a tad bit testy. massachusetts senator scott brown met democratic challenger elizabeth warren at the university of massachusetts in lowell. it was the second of four scheduled debates. a new poll from "the boston globe" shows 18% of massachusetts voters still undecided. david gregory asked about the controversy around the claim of native american heritage. >> i have never used the information about our native american heritage to get advantage. not for college, not for law school, and not to get hired for a job. i was listed in a directory as -- i listed myself as native american. i was listed there. it's part of who i am. >> do you consider yourself a minority? >> i consider myself as having a
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native american background. that's what i am. >> no one is questioning what her parents told her when she was younger. but when she was asked by the boston harold why is harvard touting her as a woman of color, she said she didn't know. then after five weeks of misleading the papers and the reporters, she said i self-reported. she's never answered why she did that. >> one notable line came when senator brown was interrupted when trying to explain why he voted against democrat-backed bills. >> she's misstating the facts. these are by democrats and republicans. if you're going to comment on my record, i would have at least -- excuse me. i'm not a student in your classroom. please let me respond, okay? thank you.
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>> okay. let's just stop there for a second. at the top of the show in our little teaser item, i think you nailed it. i think he fell into a trap. some might take issue with that. but there are dynamics between male and female politicians that you have to be wary of. >> you just have to be very careful not to appear to be bullying or condescending. he certainly looked condescending. bullying, i don't know. >> he's a mild-mannered, nice guy. >> he doesn't look like that in that clip. he looks like a guy who has had it. this is a fascinating race. i think this is a fascinating race. he's clearly making a place for the angry white working class people. and i don't know. what do you think? >> i don't think -- the biggest thing that he has going for him in a heavily democratic state is
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the perception that he's a nice guy. he's the nicer person of the two candidates. that shows up in all the polls. it shows up when you see them and encounter them on the street. what he does in the debates runs counter to that impression. that's a dangerous sign for him. his biggest problem is going to be in massachusetts the president of the united states is going to crush the former governor of massachusetts. and that numbers hill for scott brown to climb is a tremendous task. i'm surprised it's been as close as it has been this long. one of her biggest strengths is people in massachusetts, their fear of a republican senate, a republican-controlled senate. what he's got going for him is people's instinct that it's nice to have a balance. republicans and democrats. the guy is bipartisan. >> what's the big deal about her native american heritage?
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>> i think that's a media obsession. >> he's spending all this time going after her. >> because he's got to do something and there's a question as to whether she put it on a form or didn't put it on a form. he's trying to make something of it in politics. it's not the first time. i think one of the other issues there is he's obviously trying to portray himself as a centrist because of the politics of massachusetts and talking about his bipartisan cooperation. but last night he was asked his favorite supreme court justice and he said scalia and quickly pivoted. that's not going to play well in massachusetts. he's trying to portray her as a left wing academic. but as you say, i think it's unfortunately looking tough for him. >> wasn't elizabeth warren fantastic, steve rattner? >> she's a lovely person. i'm sure she is. >> you agree with me, right? >> i think she's a fantastic candidate. she's an amazing woman.
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i think she's formidable and disagree with her on about 75% of her views. >> which is why i like her. >> exactly. i like her a lot too. >> the irony here is if you look at her, if you draw her out, she's far to the left of where most voters are in that state. it's sort of -- >> on what issue? >> she's even to the left of howard dean. >> seriously, what issues? i think people have had it up to here with wall street and consumer protection. those are her strong issues. >> she's fine on consumer protection. but she would break up the banks. >> so would i. >> okay, fine. >> they are too big to fail. >> we can all go o over to cnbc and have this debate. i'm not sure the average massachusetts voter would want to radically restructure the financial industry. boston does not have a small
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financial services community. i don't think she's going to get a lot of vote there is. >> willie, wasn't she fantastic? >> he had a moment o where he said i'm not in your classrooms. but we know. she's a professor. she's not one of us. >> that was clearly a line supplied to him. >> he kept calling her professor. >> that was out of the romney zinger camp. >> how does that play in boston? the broader concept that she's not one of us? she's a nice lady. she's very smart, but she's not one of us. that's what he's saying. >> parts of boston that's going to play very well. cambrid cambridge it's not going to play well at all. he has two counties in boston that are heavily tilted against him. suffolk county and cambridge. and the numbers are so horrendously stacked against any republican, not just scott brown, that he's got a really
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tough road ahead. >> this is going to be a huge presidential turnout in those counties and that's what's going to swap? >> yeah. >> that's interesting. i thought that was a weird poll. that many people undecided. that's very surprising. >> let's show a little more of the debate last night. elizabeth warren ran into a bit of trouble with a question about who from the other party she would work with if elected to the senate. >> can you name some republicans in the senate today that you are able to work with on big issues, ub substantiative issues? >> i think richard lugar would come to mind. >> he won't be there. >> that is a problem. >> let me ask the question then. are there any republicans in the senate that you feel you come compromise with? >> it it depends on what the subject matter is. >> this is precisely the point.
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that she isn't going to work with the other party. she's out there on the edge. voters are going to have to take that into account when they decide how badly they want a democratic senator. >> counter to that, she actually built something that's about protecting the middle class, protecting the american people from the appetites of banks and wall street. she's done things that she's fighting for people. i agree, it's going to be tough for her to get in there and learn how to do it, but you know what, look at scott brown. >> there's a lot of people out there, democrats are not the only ones, who are sick of politicians who go to washington and work with the right wing. people say why don't you stand up for what you believe in. nobody is going to argue that elizabeth warren isn't going to stand up for what she believes in. >> when we come back, calista
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jo joins us. first bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> good morning. we have some rainy weather on the eastern sea board today. i don't think the airports will be too bad. just light rain. but it is widespread. let's take you on a tour. first, pennsylvania, where the light rain is coming down from pittsburgh through central pa. around washington, d.c., we skirted some of the heavy rain, but it's really intensified over the last hour. especially over d.c. the rain is going to increase in baltimore. have the umbrella. give yourself extra time for that drive. further to the south, still numerous areas of light rain. especially around nashville. in north carolina, heavy rain this morning. the rest of the country looks great today. the middle of the country is nice and warm. enjoy is in the northern plains. look at billings montana at 80 degrees today. as we go to tomorrow, temperatures drop into the 40s. we could have rain and snow showers in montana. this surge of cold air in the northern plains is heading all
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the way through the midwest by friday. then by saturday and sunday through the great lakes and the ohio valley. so if you like the really warm, dry air, appreciate the next two days in the midwest. we leave you with a shot of rainy washington, d.c. a slow morning drive. we're brewed by starbucks. you're watching joe amendola. "morning joe." mike rowe here at a ford tell me fiona, who's having a big tire event? your ford dealer. who has 11 major brands to choose from? your ford dealer. who's offering a rebate? your ford dealer. who has the low price tire guarantee... affording peace of mind to anyone who might be in the market for a new set of tires? your ford dealer. i'm beginning to sense a pattern. buy four select tires, get a $60 rebate. use the ford service credit credit card, get $60 more. that's up to $120. where did you get that sweater vest? your ford dealer.
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i think you're the only presidential candidate ever to basically go zoo to zoo.
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>> i love the natural world. i love animals whether they are in the wild, i love animals in zoos. >> best zoo in the country? >> san diego. >> favorite animal to go watch? >> hard to say. maybe elephants. >> that was vintage chris matthews interview. joining us now is callista gingrich. she's author of the new children's book "land of the pilgrims' pride." also at the table we have editor of the financial times julian tett, mike barnicle and steve rattner still with us as well. i like this line up. this is what we do. callista, welcome. >> thank you. it's a good mix. >> have you been on "morning
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joe" ever? >> this is my first time. >> tell us about your book. >> this book is "land of the pilgrims' pride." i have written two books. i have written them because i feel it's important because we share the greatness of america with our children. and ellis discovers the moments of our nation's history. so he can truly appreciate who we are. in my new book, ellis discovers colonial america as he learns about how he began as a nation. >> do you do readings to children? have you gone across the country? does newt go with you? >> i do the reading. i spent a large part of last year going to schools and libraries and hospitals and sharing the book with children. >> how do the children respond? >> they love ellis and they love learning about america. i'm always reminded how smart
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our kids are and how eager they are to learn. the more they learn about america, the more they love america. >> do you find it curious at all, your husband sitting right over there, a prominent part of our story. >> i did not put a mike on his because this is your day. it's good to see you, though, newt. >> as you do these book, we are all part of what i would consider to be one of the greatest stories ever. the story of america. and yet it's taught seemingly not enough or not well enough in grammar schools. >> many students are not learning american history. that's inspiration for these books as well. because they are meant to be an introduction. so we can begin to give our children the tools to appreciate the greatness of our nation. >> i have two girls myself who are 6 and 8. so i'm part of your target market.
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things like the american girl history series are incredibly effective at trying to convey the stories and make children excited. so that's terrific. is there an ipad version? every kid wants to know these things. >> there's not an app yet, but ellis is available on i readers. it's an important book in that we e introduce colonial america to kids. that part of our history is vital and often unknown to our children. it's the period of our characteristics of being american were shaped and that's why it's so important. >> alex just told me that ellis the elephant tweets. is that possible? >> yes. ellis will tweet, newt will tweet about ellis. ellis doesn't actually tweet. but he's pretty 21st century.
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>> what's it been like? i love the books and i'm glad you came on to talk about it. we have seen you on the campaign trail and we haven't actually heard from you that much. what has that been like for you watching your husband go through the process of running for president, the primary process, and perhaps criticism he might have received, maybe even from this show at times. from your perspective, what was that it like? >> it was an exhilarating process and one we were really blessed to be a part of. as we traveled across america, it was clear that the american people are generous and open. whether or not they agree with you politically, american people are good people. and i think most of us are still optimistic about the future of our country. >> people have strong feelings, and it came out in the primaries especially about your husband's points of view, his history in politics, he's been called a lot of names. and a lot of great things as well. and he's accomplished great things. what do you think the biggest
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misperception is about him? as his wife and listening to it from your perspective? >> newt has prepared his whole life to be a service to our country. people can be critical. sometimes he's a bit forward, but he is who he is and whether or not you agree with him politically, he's a strong character on our national stage. >> we heard from ann romney a couple weeks ago. she's just a terrific human being. i've known her for awhile. and she was semi upset or seeming upset at some of the criticisms heaped upon her husband. how difficult is it for you or for anyo other spouse in politis to sit there not only during debates and during the campaign but to sit there and listen to some of the things that are said about your husband? without jumping off the chair and saying, hey, wait a minute. >> it's part of the political
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process. so you have to just be ready for the criticism and you have to focus on the positive. because that's the only way you can function. campaigns are overwhelming experiences. and you know, you have to be tough. >> so would you like to see newt stay in the political arena or are you looking forward to a private life? >> well right now, it's all about ellis the elephant, but anything is possible. >> the book is "land of the pilgrims' pride." callista, thank you very much. we look forward to having you back on the program some time. maybe we'll let newt gingrich back on the show as well. next time i will get a better grade. a b plus. jillian tett, stay with us. awareness on poverty. the founder of global poverty project joins us on set on "morning joe."
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the intersection of music
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and activism and the energy is focused in the right place. there's 60,000 people on the great lawn in central park watching these incredible bands. there's all these people watching around the world. it's being live streamed to a dozen different places. and all of it is for the purpose of ending global poverty. hundreds of millions of dollars being raised. this is my fantasy. i can't even believe it's real. >> that was actress olivia wilde at the festival put on by the global poverty project. she's also on the show. joining us now is co-founder of the global poverty project hew evans. it's good to have you on the show. >> thank you very much. >> you guys have a big goal. >> to see an end to extreme poverty in our lifetime. so it focuses on building a movement to extreme poverty by increasing the number and
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effectiveness. >> is it a lofty, impossible goal given the extremes we face around the world? >> it's not impossible. in the last 25 years, the proportion of people has gone from 52% down to 25% of the world's population in 2005. >> what are two or three of the elements that you focus on to reduce poverty? we're not going to eliminate poverty, but to reduce poverty. >> we focus on the indicators of poverty. it's water and sanitation, health care, job creation, access to vaccines. so at the moment, we're working on a huge campaign with bill gates for the end of polio. there's only 1% left to go. it's in nigeria or on the border between pakistan and afghanistan. and we end to see the end of polio in the next few years. >> you mention water. how difficult is it?
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the delivery of clean water in many places around the globe? it's startling to some people. it's a difficult issue. >> it's a hugely-challenging issue. water security is a challenge. my own father is very passionate about water security. i think what you really need is appropriate planning and ultimately implementation of country-wide plans to see that ground water is effectively used. so we focus our efforts on the policy changes required to get to that point. because if you consider the role of american people in the end of extreme poverty, americans are incredibly generous people. but what role does our government play in ending poverty? we want to encourage obama and romney to outline a clear plan by 2015. that was a commitment made by george bush in the year 2000 on behalf of the american people. >> how are you defending defining extreme poverty because
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poverty in the united states is very different from poverty in africa? >> we're talking about the kind of useless poverty where a child would die for a lack of immunization. >> can i just say how welcome it is to have this kind of event in the heart of new york. as we ploouf into an era where people are increasingly getting their news through social media, they are choosing the kind of news they get. there's a danger to tune out foreign news. so having something like this that brings the story of global poverty through to it young americans, even when they might not choose to collide with that, it's very powerful. there are some exciting things going on. i was in boston just yesterday listening to people talk about how they are using ipads and cheap computers and district those to the world's poor to boost the level of education. technology is very exciting
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right now in terms of trying to combat these issues. >> hugely exciting. >> and hugely important in terms of being useful in solving the problem if you can get young people engaged to look beyond themselves, which this does. >> what we did is we decided to turn the campaign in reverse. instead of running a huge concert where people would pay a ticket and go home with a message in their mind, we decided to let's use the power of technology to build a moment from the outset. we developed an online platform where citizens logged on and they had to take action to support the world's poorest people if they were going to qualify for a ticket. we had over 76,000 people log on in the first few weeks to take action. >> what does that mean, take action? >> everything from writing a petition to encourage world leaders to eradicate polio,
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sharing content with friends and family, volunteering, donating, things that we quantified effort and we assigned a points value to each of their effort. so the currency wasn't money, it was effort. so it took more effort, you would earn more points. >> are you getting a lot of people engaged? >> we had 696,000 actions take place in four weeks since our launch so it was phenomenal. we trended during the festival alone three times worldwide on twitter. >> it just shows that social media has the potential for great bad things, but it also has potential for great good. the way it can harness power is extraordinary. >> the idea you just referenced that you could have someone with an ipad in vietnam or africa and send stuff about how plant more
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economically. >> or you can tweet messages or news or educational issues as well. that's what's potentially exciting. >> or agricultural information. so at the moment, farmers in west africa are using cell tones to use the latest information on crop growth. or where the local clinic is. how society is totally connected and this is the power of this movement. >> it's good news that too often did you want get out there. >> where can people get involved and take action? give us your best pitch. >> the best way to take action is to go to globalcitizen.org and take action to end poverty. we have brought together some of the world's greatest charities. we have them all together in one space at globalcitizen.org so people can take action. >> hew evans, thank you very much. great to have you on the show. business before the bell is next. keep is right here on "morning joe."
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please read the prospectus tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 carefully before investing. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 he was here with a 140-person entourage. they are in new york city. they want to see the sites. and in new york that can only mean the harlem costco. the iranians were at costco because sanctions made it difficult for them to get ahold of foreign goods or imported products. we'll never krim their regime with economic isolation now that they have their own 200-count boxes of advill and bulk bins of
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nutter butter and great shrink wrap rafts of cup of noodles. don't worry, you say. they don't have enriched uran m uranium. you know what else they sell? yellow cake. a 5-pound box for $10.85. for $10.85 if you don't make nukes, you're losing money. folks, these maniacs may deny the holocaust, but we have just laid the ground for a holocaustco. good morning. thanks for finding a laugh in the morning. that was a nice way to start a tuesday. let's go on to the lawsuit that's getting a lot of attention here. the attorney general eric sneiderman suing jpmorgan chase over mortgages that e defrauded
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investors back in 2005 to 2007. one thing to make clear about the lawsuit is it's not against jpmorgan chase, i mean, it is, but it's going against bear sterns. so they bought bear stearns and have inherited a lawsuit. a lot of private plaintiffs are suing, jpm and its bear unit over the same thing so stepping in perhaps before the statute of limitations runs out. also today an interesting story about saving. one thing the federal reserve has done is made asset classes go up in price. essentially making people with assets a little bit wealthier. the problems that few people are taking advantage of it. they are saving more despite the fact that a checking account, savings account is giving you, i think, the technical term is squat on your money.
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but people are afraid and are saving. the bottom line is this. the piggy bank may need some help. and people are still very, very nervous out there. stock markets doubled a couple years ago. unfortunately, most people have not participated. >> and julian tett and steve rattner, it's a reaction, but in some ways is that maybe good for balancing out the way we have been living? >> it might be good in the sense that america needs to rebalance after the crazy bubble, but there has been a shift in attitudes. i was looking at data recently showing 70% of americans have changed their attitude to debt as a result of the crisis. a 50% don't want to take any risk whatsoever now. and 30 to 40% said they shouldn't touch the equity market because it's too risky. >> people had to start saving.
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they were saving nothing. and household sector was going more and more in debt. they were relying on home equity. so they needed to raise their savings rate and that's a good thing. with respect to the equity markets, americans have a singular bad record of knowing when to put their money in the stokt market and knowing when to take it out. they it almost always get it wrong. would be better off with a constant set of investments and left them. >> one of the most stunning statistics is content is at a decade low. >> i know we have to run, but economists it's called the paradox of thrift. e we need more saving. the problem is 74% of our economy is consumer spending. so in the short-term, it could be a negative impact, but in the long-term, it's probably a positive. >> brian sullivan, thank you. up next, travel like the president. peter alexander shows us what it takes to move the leader of the free world from place to place. we'll be right back.
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have you ever wondered what it's like to travel like the president of the united states? or like steve rattner? a new travel channel series
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explores what life on the road is like for some of the country's most high-profile people. nbc news correspondent peter alexander takes us inside the logisti logistics. >> reporter: aboveground when two certain presidents want a hidden escape with a little pasta on the side, they head to greenwi greenwich village for lunch. just try to get a reservation in one of its 17 tables. it's tough. unless your party happens to include the last names obama and clinton. >> everybody was excited and nerves. you could see it on television. they go into certain communities, but you don't know what goes into it until it happens to you. >> reporter: days before the lunch date, the manager is told who the special guests will be.
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but they are sworn to secrecy. >> the detail squad of the nypd came and surveyed the place, showed them where the rear entrance leads to and so forth and that was it. nobody knows anything about this visit. >> for the chef, this ultimate power meal was the only lunch he prepared that day. >> a little pan because we have to put the pasta here. >> reporter: from the daily specials, president clinton orders his famous home made pasta with fresh shrimp. >> we have italian sea salt. >> reporter: president obama orders the broil whole. while preparing the food, the chef had extra company in the kitchen. a navy officer trained in food security. >> they had a food taster in the
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kitchen and had to taste all the food before it went out to the presidents. he said with my job it's always a one-shot deal. there's never a second chance. >> reporter: the food is approved, but before he can serve the president, he needs to wear a special pin provided by the secret service. >> it he puts this pin on my lapel and says to me, make sure you don't lose it it. if you lose it, don't go to the table. i just bothered asking him why, and the guy said, you don't want to know why. >> reporter: if any employee approaches the president without that pin, they are considered a threat and could be taken down by the secret service. >> it happens once in a lifetime. to have the honor of serving two presidents at the same time. >> that looks good. travel like a president airs tonight on the travel channel.
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reminds us all we need to go back there for dinner. up next, what did we learn today? i'm meteorologist bill karins. a warm day across many areas of the nation. we'll deal with showers in the eastern u.s. airport delays won't be too bad. still wet weather through the ohio valley. thunderstorms in florida could cause delays. and dry and windy weather in the
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northern plains. warm and dry in the west. have a great day. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot?
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both men have a monumental undertaking for the first debate. one has to come off as nicer than he is and the other has to come across as more normal and less awkward and strange than he is. >> then how did we end up with these two idiots? we are not looking for working policies. americans are just looking for assurance that their next president isn't going to be a weirdo who thinks he's better than us. >> great news for republicans. we have a candidate who is going to do well on wednesday night. >> oh [ bleep ] we have a runner. what are you doing, christie? only chris christie didn't get the memo that his party's nominee sucks at this. >> the restart of this campaign, you'll see the numbers start to move right back in the other
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direction. this whole race thereby turned upside down come thursday morning. >> what are you doing, christie? for god's sakes, if romney fails to meet those expectations, he's going to lose the general election and that's going to leave open -- oh. the jersey is strong in this one. >> okay. it's time now to talk about what we learned today. willie geist? >> i learned last night's senate debate aim going to refer to mike barnicle as professor. >> okay. rattner? >> i was reminded of how tough the situation in afghanistan is and how we have no good way out. >> absolutely. >> quiet but only when not given a microphone. >> i learned that i want to be the official food taster.